In a Secret Garden in Kildare - Neasa & Gerard's September Wedding

So we promised you a week of wedding treats - a real variety of styles from all over Ireland and after yesterday's contemporary Dublin city chic wedding, today we have the lovely indian summer wedding of Neasa and Gerard, who were married in the gardens of the Steam Museum at Straffan, Co. Kildare. Eschewing the formal dinner reception, Neasa and Gerard opted for a simple garden ceremony and a cricket tea to celebrate with lots of friends and family involved in making it one very beautiful day...

Neasa and Gerard's romance stretches back all the way through the mists of time..."We were in playschool together although love didn’t blossom there. Gerard’s best man (and cousin) John, was a good friend of mine in secondary school and I got to know him through John. We started going out together when we were 16 and have been together ever since, the traditional childhood sweethearts! In 2002 we moved to New Zealand for a year to travel and enjoy life. We both fell for the place and didn’t want to leave. We came home but only stayed for a year before returning to NZ for 6 more. We became New Zealand residents, Gerard completed his PhD in Victoria University, Wellington and we had our two beautiful daughters there. We came back to Ireland in August 2010."

So after being so long together how did Gerard finally get up the gumption to pop the question? "A couple of weeks after we had our second baby, Gerard completed and submitted his PhD. He then asked me out on our first post-baby date to celebrate — or so I thought. The weather was terrible, lashing rain and high wind (not unusual in Wellington) but Gerard drove to the viewing platform at the top of the Botanic Gardens, I thought he had lost it when he stopped — I certainly had no interest in eating at the restaurant up there, but he hopped out and grabbed an umbrella....

...We wandered over to the platform; the view was beautiful even in the rain, and next thing I knew he was down on one knee with a (gorgeous) ring in his hand. I was totally shocked and delighted. Just as I happily accepted his proposal the Cable Car came to its final stop complete with clanging bells and lots of passengers; we received claps and congratulations from them, we were mortified but happy."

"I was a somewhat reluctant bride — I had no doubts about wanting to marry Gerard but I wasn't too eager to start organising an actual wedding. Eventually a couple of my friends (Kate and Aoife ) staged an ‘intervention’, they arrived to the house with wine and a ‘mood board’ with ideas, pictures, press cuttings and information and made me sit down for a couple of hours to just talk about what we wanted. They suggested contacting the owners of the Steam Museum to see if they would be willing to host the event. We arranged a meeting with Mrs Guinness to view the Gardens, the Museum and Courtyard and we totally fell in love with it. It helped that the girls were enchanted too.

How cute is little Edie as a flower girl? In her straw bag she has the confetti that Neasa's sister worked very hard on..."my sister Elaine and her daughters Hope and Holly made rice paper confetti using flower shaped paper punches — I don’t think they had any idea how much work was involved and I know there were a few sore fingers and thumbs in Bettystown in the week before the wedding. We topped the baskets up with rose petals too which was just as well, Edie decided the rice paper was very tasty so ate lots of it during the ceremony."

"We wanted the wedding to be a celebration of love, laughter, friendship and family. We wanted to have a reasonably traditional ceremony but wanted it to speak to us as a couple and as a family so we chose a Humanist Celebrant — Emma Sides to officiate and then wrote most the ceremony ourselves.

The ceremony was absolutely magical. Ursula sang at the ceremony and during the afternoon, she is a dear friend of mine and very talented singer. She was accompanied by my brother-in-law Bryan on Double Bass and their friend Phil on guitar. It was amazing listening to the Blues, in the sunshine in Ireland at the end of September. Gerard’s sister Nichola has an amazing voice and as she sang Pokarekare Ana, a traditional Maori love song that means a lot to us, with ‘help’ from our daughter Ruth, I was able look around and see all the people there to share our day with us, wishing us nothing but love and laughter for the years ahead.

I don't think I've seen a more beautifully natural garden scene for a wedding it all seems so perfectly in tune with the bridal party, apparently this wasn't a plan but like all great events, just came together..."The colour theme came about by chance — Kathy (my bridesmaid) chose her dress three weeks before the day, I had the girls dresses already picked so then we pretended we had a theme — Aubergine and dusky pink, it was only after that we realised that herbaceous borders in the walled garden where we were having the ceremony were in full bloom in those colours. Serendipity or fluke? Who knows? Ursula Connolly, my very good (and talented) friend and singer is also interior designer, she searched through her sample books for fabric in the right colour theme and made beautiful bunting as a surprise for me"

"Weddings that we attended in New Zealand were always outdoor events with a casual, friendly atmosphere so we decided to try and pull that off over here. We had picked September as the date so we knew we were taking a risk with the ‘outdoor’ part but in the end it worked out beautifully — despite the concerns of our wonderful caterer Neil Shirt, I think I caused him to lose a few hairs and a couple of nights sleep by resisting having an ‘indoor option just in case’."

"We decided long before that we did not want a sit down meal so opted for very high class canapes and hors d'oeuvres to be served by waiting staff for the entire afternoon. I contacted several local catering companies but honestly, Neil Shirt was the only one who seemed to understand what I was looking for. He is a consummate professional and a very nice guy! The food was fantastic and really added to everyone's enjoyment."

And while Neil Shirt did a super job on the savouries, the sweets were provided by the ladies of Neasa & Gerard's family - Neasa explained "there is a New Zealand tradition of ‘Ladies bring a plate’ for parties etc and I thought it might be a nice way for us to enjoy some of our favourite cakes/biscuits and treats by our family and friends so our dessert table was brought by our guests. It worked out really well and it was a real joy watching everyone tasting the sweet treats brought on the day. Unfortunately I was too busy talking to get to taste everything. I may have to ask them all to do it every year for our anniversary."

A fingerprint guest book? How we love them! And as for the cuteness of the cake topper, well this isn't just for show... "Gerard and myself have played Scrabble against each other hundreds of times over the last 20 years and I am embarrassed to say that I have only beaten him twice. When I saw the beautiful cake toppers by thequirkycorncrib on etsy.com I couldn’t resist them. Gerard was concerned about the desecration of the scrabble tiles but I fobbed him off telling him ‘no tiles were harmed in the making of this cake topper’."

So what advice do this break-the-mould couple give to brides and grooms planning their day? You don’t have to 'do' anything. Choose the things that are important to both of you, together or as individuals and do those things. Make sure that it’s your best day of being you, not some other woman in an unachievable image of a wedding. (Oh and ask Kathy to be your bridesmaid… she’ll make it all work!)

And I think that Neasa and Gerard's wedding proves you can and should have a wedding that is exactly how you like, cherrypicking whatever traditions you suit you, and adding in whatever elements that will make it a perfect reflection of your relationship and life together.

Huge thanks to Neasa for sharing the day with us - very much appreciated.

And to Emma of Ebony and Pearl - many thanks for sharing your lovely images with us.

And the final word of thanks is from Neasa herself... "NONE of this would have come together without the support and work by my best friend and bridesmaid (Bridezookie to my Bridezilla) Kathy Tynan. Her experience in Public Relations and event management was priceless and it meant that on the day I was able to relax — I have been called a control freak in the past — because I knew she had pulled everything together and arranged for others to help out with things I didn’t even think of. We owe her big time! "